David Cameron has launched an angry defence of his handling of the Lord Ashcroft tax controversy, insisting he personally intervened to make sure the peer's status was made public.
The Tory leader said he had made the party "less reliant" on wealthy backers like the billionaire whose multimillion pound donations helped bankroll its campaign in key marginal seats.
But he immediately came under renewed fire from Labour after refusing to rule out a job for the party's deputy chairman in his government should he snatch power at the general election.
Lord Ashcroft announced last Monday that he had enjoyed non-dom status for the last decade, despite signing a written pledge to then Tory leader William Hague a decade ago that he would take up permanent British residence as a condition of being awarded a peerage.
Mr Cameron was said by colleagues to have only found that out within the last month, leading Labour to claim the party's biggest backer had him "by the balls" and so could "call the shots".
The Tory leader rejected claims he had been "too weak" in dealing with the issue, telling the BBC: "I do not accept that at all. The fact is that some time before the election he has answered the questions about where he pays his tax, what his tax status is. He has answered the question about donations - that has all been thoroughly gone through.
"It has been done. It has been done before the election and it was done by me, right? Let's get that straight," he said.
The Electoral Commission last week said it had failed to find anything improper about £4 million in donations made to the party through one of Lord Ashcroft's companies.
Lord Ashcroft is set to stand down as deputy chairman after the election.
He indicated that he would give up his non-dom status if proposed laws to require all MPs and peers to pay full UK tax, backed by both main parties, come into force.
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